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The Libertines announce podcast to celebrate 20 years of ‘Up The Bracket’

Courtney Wynter
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The Libertines announce podcast to celebrate 20 years of ‘Up The Bracket’
The Libertines have announced the launch of a special podcast to celebrate 20 years of their debut album Up The Bracket. ORDER NOW: Bob Dylan is on the cover of the latest issue of Uncut The podcast Up The Bracket: 20 Years of The Libertines will be made up of seven episodes featuring excl...

The Libertines have announced the launch of a special podcast to celebrate 20 years of their debut album Up The Bracket.

The podcast Up The Bracket: 20 Years of The Libertines will be made up of seven episodes featuring exclusive interviews with band members Carl Barât, Pete Doherty, John Hassall and Gary Powell, as well as the A&R who discovered them, James Endeacott, and their biographer and former NME journalist Anthony Thornton.

The series will be hosted by Radio X’s Sunta Templeton and will provide listeners with insight into The Libertines’ journey, exploring the highs and lows and the moment they felt like they ‘made it’ told by the band themselves.

The release of the podcast this Friday (October 14) will be accompanied by a special documentary, with both being available exclusively on Global Player.

Speaking on the podcast, Templeton said: “20 years on, we’re jumping aboard the good ship Albion with Peter, Carl, John and Gary and journeying back to where it all began. The story of The Libertines is fascinating, chaotic and totally captivating, and this is an essential listen for fans of their trail-blazing brilliance.”

Listen to the trailer for the podcast here.

News of the special podcast from The Libertines arrives weeks after it was revealed the band have just returned from working on their fourth album in Jamaica.

“We’ve got a new album on the way,” Doherty told media at the AIM Independent Music Awards 2022. “It’s been quite productive. Just trying to write some new songs.”

While a new album from the band is currently in the works, they are also gearing up for the release of a Super Deluxe Edition of Up The Bracket which is due for release on October 21. The collectible will include 65 unreleased recordings with original demos, radio sessions and live recordings. A 60-page book with a foreword by Beats 1 presenter and former NMEjournalist Matt Wilkinson, unseen photos and memorabilia is also set to be released.

The 20th anniversary of Up The Bracket was also celebrated by the band back in July where they performed the album in full at a one-night show at Wembley Arena.

Rolling Stones bassist Darryl Jones gets his own documentary, In The Blood

Chris Edwards
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Rolling Stones bassist Darryl Jones gets his own documentary, In The Blood
The Rolling Stones bassist Darryl Jones has gotten his own documentary – you can watch the trailer for it below. ORDER NOW: Bob Dylan is on the cover of the latest issue of Uncut Titled Darryl Jones: In The Blood, the new film will explore the life and career of the musician, as well exam...

The Rolling Stones bassist Darryl Jones has gotten his own documentary – you can watch the trailer for it below.

Titled Darryl Jones: In The Blood, the new film will explore the life and career of the musician, as well examining matters such as race, politics and growing up on the south side of Chicago.

Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood all feature in the documentary, as does the late Charlie Watts in one of his last filmed interviews.

“In a band you have to get on with everyone, really,” Watts says in the film. “And Darryl is one of those people who – he’s very easy to work with and very pleasant to be around.”

“He’s one of the best bass players in the world,” adds Keith Richards. “He played with Miles Davis for five years, and that’s no mean resume, you know?”

At the age of 21, Jones performed alongside iconic jazz musician Miles Davis. He later went on to play with Herbie Hancock, Sting, Peter Gabriel and Madonna, before eventually becoming the bassist for The Rolling Stones following the retirement of Bill Wyman in 1993.

At a Q&A for the film in Santa Monica, director Eric Hamburg said: “It’s not an easy thing to replace someone who is a founding member of a band like the Stones. And yet Darryl was able to do it. I don’t know if they could have gone on for the last 30 years if they hadn’t had Darryl Jones playing with them.”

“Hopefully not to sound too arrogant, but I’ve never really felt like a rookie with these guys,” said Jones. “When I played with them for the first time, I thought to myself, ‘that really felt good to me, and if it felt as good to them as it felt to me, I will hear from them again,’ and I did.”

Hamburg went on to add: “I hope the film will inspire young people to pick up an instrument and play and write music.

“Darryl does not fit the clichés of rock stars. He’s not arrogant. He’s not on a big ego trip. He’s very humble. This is a movie about a very inspiring person.”

Watch The Cure debut new song “And Nothing Is Forever”

Tom Skinner
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Watch The Cure debut new song “And Nothing Is Forever”
The Cure debuted a new track called "And Nothing Is Forever" during their show in Stockholm on October 10 – check out the footage below. ORDER NOW: Bob Dylan is on the cover of the latest issue of Uncut Robert Smith and co. were performing at the Avicii Arena in the Swedish capital as par...

The Cure debuted a new track called “And Nothing Is Forever” during their show in Stockholm on October 10 – check out the footage below.

Robert Smith and co. were performing at the Avicii Arena in the Swedish capital as part of their current European tour, which has already seen the band preview two new songs: “Alone” and “Endsong”.

Those cuts returned to the setlist yesterday, with “And Nothing Is Forever” making its first appearance six songs into the gig (via Setlist.FM).

The dreamy, six-minute number – featuring typically-lush synth and piano – includes the opening lyrics: “Promise you’ll be with me in the end/ Say we’ll be together, and with no regret/ However far away/ You will remember me in time.”

Later, Smith reflects on how his “world has grown old, and nothing is forever”. Watch a selection of fan-shot videos here:

Elsewhere in the concert, The Cure gave “A Strange Day”, “One Hundred Years” and “Primary” their tour debuts. Check out the clips of those performances above.

The group are currently playing as a six-piece, having welcomed guitarist/keyboardist Perry Bamonte back to the fold. Bamonte previously appeared in the line-up between 1990 and 2005.

Robert Smith Simon Gallup The Cure
The Cure’s Robert Smith and Simon Gallup Image: David Wolff – Patrick / Redferns

The Cure’s UK and Ireland tour is set to kick off in Dublin on December 1 – you can see the full list of dates below.

DECEMBER
01 – 3ARENA, Dublin, Ireland
02 – SSE, Belfast, Northern Ireland
04 – OVO HYDRO, Glasgow, Scotland
06 – FIRST DIRECT ARENA, Leeds, England
07 – UTILITA ARENA, Birmingham, England
08 – MOTORPOINT ARENA, Cardiff, Wales
11 – THE SSE ARENA, Wembley, London, England
12 – THE SSE ARENA, Wembley, London, England
13 – THE SSE ARENA, Wembley, London, England

Introducing the new Uncut: Bob Dylan, Flaming Lips, Weyes Blood, Pharoah Sanders

Michael Bonner
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Introducing the new Uncut: Bob Dylan, Flaming Lips, Weyes Blood, Pharoah Sanders
Part of the mission statement here at Uncut is to bring you new and seldom-told stories from the past 60 years of music. This month, I’m especially proud to run Dave Simpson’s brilliant interview with Misty In Roots. It’s a powerful tale – rest assured, I won’t spoil the details for you he...

Part of the mission statement here at Uncut is to bring you new and seldom-told stories from the past 60 years of music. This month, I’m especially proud to run Dave Simpson’s brilliant interview with Misty In Roots. It’s a powerful tale – rest assured, I won’t spoil the details for you here – and not one that I recall being told in the mainstream UK music press before. In many respects it’s a story that still feels vital today, and despite the tragedies and travails that unfold, there is something ultimately deeply nourishing about the band’s celebration of community and, critically, the unifying power of music. As one fan, Pete Townshend, tells Dave, “The music… this rose above the troubles, the violence and the sadness.” I’d also recommend Rob Hughes’ piece on Davy Graham – I’m ashamed to admit, I think this is our first deep dive into the gifted guitarist’s life and music. Rob is helped in his task by a bevy of admirers and friends, from Shirley Collins and Roy Harper to Ray Davies. It’s another great read, I hope you’ll agree, in a packed issue.

I’m also very pleased that we’re able to follow-up Weyes Blood’s Album Of The Year win back in 2019, for the sublime Titanic Rising, with a grand reveal of her excellent new album, And In The Darkness, Hearts Aglow. Jaan Uhelszki joins Natalie Mering at home in the tiny town of Altadena, California, to go deep into this new record. Elsewhere, Sam Richards checks in with Wayne Coyne and Steven Drozd to recall the high times and sonic breakthroughs of The Flaming Lips’ Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots as it turns 20.

The main event, of course, is Bob Dylan’s return to the UK this month for his first tour here in five years. As Nick Hasted confirms, in his hot-off-the-press report from Dylan’s Stockholm show he witnessed on September 27, the Rough And Rowdy Ways Tour has proved full of surprises. In addition to Nick’s piece on Dylan live in 2022, a number of our writers and a few friends relive some of their favourite Dylan shows for us from the past seven decades: Richard Williams kicks us off with an elegant report of Dylan at Sheffield City Hall in 1965. You’ll also find a host of musicians sharing their memories with us of touring with Dylan down the ages. If there’s one constant throughout, it’s Dylan’s endless capacity for reinvention.

Bob Dylan and his band, in show and concert. Don’t you dare miss it!

Uncut – December 2022

Uncut
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Uncut – December 2022
HAVE A COPY SENT STRAIGHT TO YOUR HOME Bob Dylan, Robyn Hitchcock, Flaming Lips, Davy Graham, L7, Weyes Blood, Alan Parsons, Misty In Roots, Alabaster DePlume, Peter Frampton and Willy DeVille all feature in the new Uncut, dated December 2022 and in UK shops from October 13 or available to buy o...

HAVE A COPY SENT STRAIGHT TO YOUR HOME

Bob Dylan, Robyn Hitchcock, Flaming Lips, Davy Graham, L7, Weyes Blood, Alan Parsons, Misty In Roots, Alabaster DePlume, Peter Frampton and Willy DeVille all feature in the new Uncut, dated December 2022 and in UK shops from October 13 or available to buy online now. This issue comes with an exclusive free 15-track CD of the month’s best new music.

BOB DYLAN: As Bob Dylan live fever reaches its peak, Uncut travels to Stockholm to experience the Rough And Rowdy Ways Tour up close. First, though, Uncut’s writers – and some close associates – relive their own legendary encounters with Bob from his past seven decades of challenging, constantly evolving live music. Take your seat alongside us at Sheffield City Hall in 1965, Madison Square Garden in 1974, the Spokane Opera House in 1980 and beyond, down 50 transformative years, in our definitive, eye-witness report on Dylan in concert.

OUR FREE CD! CONTAINS MULTITUDES: 15 tracks of the month’s best new music

This issue of Uncut is available to buy by clicking here – with FREE delivery to the UK and reduced delivery charges for the rest of the world.

Inside the issue, you’ll find:

THE FLAMING LIPS: Axl Rose! Cat Stevens! Songs to sing at funerals! As a 20th-anniversary boxset expands the technicolour universe of The Flaming Lips’ Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots, Wayne Coyne reveals the real story of how his band of freaks inherited the Earth. “We just embraced it all, and did it our way,” learns Sam Richards.

WEYES BLOOD: With Titanic Rising – Uncut’s Album Of The Year in 2019 – Weyes Blood’s Natalie Mering conjured up a beguiling mix of bold cinematic dreams and ecological fears. For her follow-up, And In The Darkness, Hearts Aglow, she has further refined her singular vision. She tells Jaan Uhelszki about Buddhist anthems, Greek myths and – of course! – the end of the world: “My idea of impending doom is a lot closer than people think.”

DAVY GRAHAM: He was a revolutionary spirit at the vanguard of the ’60s folk movement, until drug addiction and mental health issues waylaid his mercurial talent. Here friends and collaborators and – among them Shirley Collins, Martin Carthy and Ray Davies – celebrate the nimble-fingered magic of Davy Graham. “He burned very brightly for a short time, and no-one forgot that,” hears Rob Hughes.

MISTY IN ROOTS: Emerging from their west London squat during the racially charged late ’70s, they battled inequality and injustice through their powerful “progressive protest music”. They went on to record one of the greatest live albums of all time, enjoy the patronage of John Peel and Pete Townshend, and become the first British reggae group to play in Russia – before relocating to a farm in Zimbabwe. All while they endured trauma and tragedy whose scars can still be felt to this day. This, then, is the remarkable story of Misty In Roots. “The music is our legacy,” they tell Dave Simpson. “It will outlast all of us.”

ROBYN HITCHCOCK: As the singular psych-folk troubadour releases his 22nd album with help from famous friends, he answers your pressing enquiries.

L7: The making of “Pretend We’re Dead”.

ALAN PARSONS: The ultimate backroom boy on his massively successful “prog pop” career.

THE BEATLES: Their pivot-point LP gets a fresh spin.

CLICK TO GET THE NEW UNCUT DELIVERED TO YOUR DOOR

In our expansive reviews section, we take a look at new records from King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard, Richard Dawson, Arctic Monkeys, Big Joanie and more, and archival releases from PJ Harvey, Iris Dement, Bright Eyes, and others. We catch the End Of The Road live; among the films, DVDs and TV programmes reviewed are The Banshees Of Inisherin, Triangle Of Sadness, Vesper, Neptune Frost and A Bunch Of Amateurs; while in books there’s Tom Doyle and Brian Johnson.

Our front section, meanwhile, features Pharoah Sanders, Peter Frampton, Willy DeVille, International Anthem & Skullcrusher, while, at the end of the magazine, Alabaster DePlume shares his life in music.

You can pick up a copy of Uncut in the usual places, where open. But otherwise, readers all over the world can order a copy from here.

CLICK TO GET THE NEW UNCUT DELIVERED TO YOUR DOOR

Blur’s Dave Rowntree shares moody video for new single “Devil’s Island”

Damian Jones
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Blur’s Dave Rowntree shares moody video for new single “Devil’s Island”
Blur drummer Dave Rowntree has shared a new video for his recent single "Devil’s Island". ORDER NOW: Bob Dylan is on the cover of the latest issue of Uncut Rowntree shared the track last month along with details of his forthcoming debut solo LP Radio Songs. Speaking about the clip, w...

Blur drummer Dave Rowntree has shared a new video for his recent single “Devil’s Island”.

Rowntree shared the track last month along with details of his forthcoming debut solo LP Radio Songs.

Speaking about the clip, which was directed by Guy Gotto, he said: ““I was keen to work with Guy Gotto, who makes gorgeous and interesting video art. He visualised the song as a journey through a bleak but beautiful landscape.

“We decided to film along the narrow gauge railway from Hythe to Dungeness, which runs through some of the most desolate but dazzling landscape in the country. A vista of abandoned boats, lighthouses and drama. The drama reached fever pitch when we were thrown off the estate for not having a permit. A bleak end to a beautiful day.”

Radio Songs is set for release via Cooking Vinyl on January 23, 2023.

“The idea of Radio Songs is me spinning through the dial,” the Blur drummer previously said of the record. “It sounds like you’ve got a radio tuned to some static and you spin the dial, and the song pops out of it. And then you spin the dial again, and the song dissolves back into the static.”

The Blur drummer will also perform three headline shows including one at London’s Omeara in the coming weeks.

Fans who also pre-order Radio Songs through Rough Trade will be given access to a special release day show at their East London store. You can pre-order it here.

Animal Collective have cancelled their UK/European tour dates

Damian Jones
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Animal Collective have cancelled their UK/European tour dates
Animal Collective have cancelled their forthcoming UK/European tour citing economic difficulties. ORDER NOW: Bob Dylan is on the cover of the latest issue of Uncut READ MORE: Panda Bear: “The music would put me in a dream state” The band were due to kick off their jaunt in Ireland on...

Animal Collective have cancelled their forthcoming UK/European tour citing economic difficulties.

The band were due to kick off their jaunt in Ireland on November 2 with further dates in Brighton, Bristol, Manchester, Glasgow and London before moving on to Europe.

But on October 10 the band issued a lengthy statement confirming that all tour dates have been cancelled and explained their reasons for doing so. You can view the statement in full below.

“Friends, we are absolutely gutted to announce today that we are making the decision to cancel our UK/EU dates for this November. We love playing music for you and truly wish we could be there.

“It has been a wild year for us trying to push through a mountain of touring obstacles related to COVID and the economy. Three of us got bad cases of Covid. We were forced to cancel shows and lost large amounts of the income that sustains us and our families. But preparing for this tour we were looking at an economic reality that simply does not work and is not sustainable.”

They continued: “From inflation, to currency devaluation, to bloated shipping and transportation costs, and much much more, we simply could not make a budget for this tour that did not lose money even if everything went as well as it could. We have always been the kind of people to persevere through the difficult times and get on stage unless our health prevented it. We are choosing not to take the risk to our mental and physical health with the economic reality of what that tour would have been. We hope you understand and that you know we would not make a choice like this lightly.”

They said they were looking forward to playing overseas again at some point in the future and that all tickets will be refunded from the point of purchase.”

It comes after a host of artists including Santigold, Sam Fender and Lindsey Buckingham cancelled their tours recently due to economic, mental health and health reasons.

Pavement perform “Angel Carver Blues/Mellow Jazz Docent” for the first time in 26 years

Anna Rose
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Pavement perform “Angel Carver Blues/Mellow Jazz Docent” for the first time in 26 years
Pavement have performed their Perfect Sound Forever cut "Angel Carver Blues/Mellow Jazz Docent" live for the first time since 1996 – watch the performance below. ORDER NOW: Bob Dylan is on the cover of the latest issue of Uncut READ MORE: Curated By Pavement Released in 1991, Perfect ...

Pavement have performed their Perfect Sound Forever cut “Angel Carver Blues/Mellow Jazz Docent” live for the first time since 1996 – watch the performance below.

Released in 1991, Perfect Sound Forever marked the third EP from the indie outfit. The performance of one of its lead songs, “Angel Carver Blues/Mellow Jazz Docent”, went down on October 8 at The Eastern in Atlanta, Georgia, coming as part of Pavement’s current North America headline tour.

Watch the fan-shot performance below:

The indie legends kicked off their reunion tour back in May (following its initial announcement in 2019) at Los Angeles’ The Fonda Theatre, marking Pavement’s first gig in nearly 12 years.

The band followed that up with a headline slot at Primavera Sound Barcelona and Porto back in June.

August saw a 30th anniversary reissue of Slanted & Enchanted, itself a follow-up to the special reissue of Pavement’s final album, Terror Twilight, at the start of 2022.

After wrapping up their current North American headline run, Pavement will play a host of UK shows later this month, which includes a four-date residency at the Roundhouse in London.

Speaking to the BBC on October 9, frontman Stephen Malkmus said the tour has been “sort of like a tiger let out of the cage”.

“I listened to every song, just about, that we ever did,” he said of how he prepared for the run, “starting from the very beginning to make sure I had enough material to surprise people and make it magical and every show different.”

Cluster – album by album with Roedelius: “It was an adventurous journey from the first moment”

Tom Pinnock
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Cluster – album by album with Roedelius: “It was an adventurous journey from the first moment”
Originally published in Uncut's February 2022 issue “What I miss most about Moebi,” explains Hans-Joachim Roedelius, “is his weird kind of humour. Our partnership was very special, and based on the same roots as my solo work: curiosity, interest, friendship, love.” ORDER NOW: Bob Dyl...

Originally published in Uncut’s February 2022 issue

“What I miss most about Moebi,” explains Hans-Joachim Roedelius, “is his weird kind of humour. Our partnership was very special, and based on the same roots as my solo work: curiosity, interest, friendship, love.”

Across 40 years, multiple albums and collaborations with the likes of Michael Rother, Conrad Schnitzler and Brian Eno, Roedelius and his creative partner Dieter Moebius crafted the music of Cluster and helped define the sound and aesthetic of kosmische synth music. Moebius passed away in 2015, but Roedelius, now 87 and still prolifically composing and releasing music, is the eager guardian of the duo’s legacy, answering Uncut’s questions from his home in Austria. “The last year or so has been rather exhausting because of all the bad and difficult circumstances within the Covid situation – but it has been very interesting working on music with [American collaborator] Tim Story from both sides of the ocean.”

Whatever the outside circumstances, the gentle channelling of inspiration “out of the belly” has been Roedelius and Cluster’s long mission. “Thought is only to control the whole process,” he explains. “I see my work as one long continuous thread, and it will continue until I have to leave the soil of this planet.”

TOM PINNOCK

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KLUSTER
KLOPFZEICHEN
SCHWANN AMS STUDIO, 1971
The debut, created as a trio with Conrad Schnitzler, their music overlaid with various religious texts

HANS-JOACHIM ROEDELIUS: My musical experience started with me as a bush-drummer in the macchia of Corsica, when I lived there for some time. At the beginning, I got in a trance hitting an old iron oil barrel around midnight, ending with bloody fingers in the morning. There were no drugs at all, not even alcohol, just heavy interest and fun. Then I got involved in free improvisation in Berlin in the late ’60s and we went along this way until Conrad Schnitzler left Kluster, and Moebius and I continued in the same experimental way as Cluster. Did we have a strong bond from the start? Well, it was an adventurous journey from the first moment, because we wanted to do what was impossible to know in detail at the beginning. I was a physiotherapist and masseur and Moebius was a graphic designer, and we were very curious whether we would be able to become real musicians and artists. The situation in Berlin and the foundation of the [experimental arts club] Zodiak at the time was the best way to find out whether it would work and what it would bring us as human beings and artists in regards to awareness, consciousness, understanding. This album was our entrance into it all. The recording process consisted of sitting down, hitting a first key and waiting how it developed by ‘itself’. It was the first real production with Conny Plank in his studio in Godorf near Cologne. The spoken texts occurred after a priest heard us performing. Kluster just sat down there trying to create relevant soundscapes that pleased our ears, Conny recorded it and the composer Oskar Gottlieb Blarr listened through to find out what he liked as background for the text or poetry from the chosen artists of the ecumenic movement.

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CLUSTER
CLUSTER 71
PHILIPS, 1971
With Schnitzler departed, Conny Plank becomes the third, silent member of the renamed Cluster

This was recorded in Hamburg’s Starmusik Studio. I don’t recall much about it, only that we had great fun and were totally satisfied with the result, because it was our first real studio work. We had no synthesisers as such in the beginning – instead we used guitar, cello, keyboards, tone generators and little handmade electronic toys from our side, and then Conny was well aware at the time of the specifics of his grand studio mixer, as the artist that he was. We did a very collaborative job. Our interest in improvisation came purely from curiosity. There was no other way than practising it with whatever instrument or equipment we had to become aware whether we could do it and how. It was pure curiosity, just our interest in which way a piece developed by ‘itself’. The tracks on here are untitled, yes – we just didn’t want to give names to it at the beginning, perhaps because we thought that music evokes its own strengths and emotions. Did this album lay the groundwork for everything that came after? Of course.

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CLUSTER
CLUSTER II
BRAIN, 1972
Six stunning pieces, less industrial and more melodic, with “Im Süden” prompting Michael Rother to suggest a collaboration between Cluster and Neu! – instead, Cluster and Rother formed Harmonia the following year

This feels like a breakthrough? Well, we were just getting more into it, and getting more experienced at being able to elaborate it. Conny was working with us again – as well as being a multi-talented artist, he was a very experienced sound master and great human being. He contributed as a fellow musician, adding sounds with his mixing table such as reverb, delay and other effects enriching the whole pieces so that they finally became somehow unique. I don’t remember much about the sessions, which were again at Hamburg’s Star Studio, but we were happy being allowed to try to work there the way we wanted to. It was a normal studio, so not as special as Conny’s studio later on, but it helped us a lot to open the doors to new sonic territories. Moebi and I interacted as a duo during the recordings in the same way we played live, it was usually a sort of Q&A.

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CLUSTER
ZUCKERZEIT
BRAIN, 1974
With Rother on production duties, Roedelius and Moebius each created five solo tracks and pieced them together to create this up-tempo, beat-driven record

Moebi and I decided to work separately on this album, because we wanted to see what we would bring if we showed up individually. Michael Rother is listed as producer, yes, but what did that entail? Well, he provided some of his machinery that we used. We weren’t trying to create a ‘pop’ album, even though there are short track lengths, it was just another step on our way to learn how to create relevant music out of the moment. We were living in Forst [a rural community by the river Weser in Lower Saxony] by this point. When I moved with Moebius there, it seemed at first to be like paradise – dangerously idyllic! But we didn’t know that a plant up-river was broken and kids were dying nearby and down-river. In our community in Forst three people, one kid and two adults, died. As soon as we got to know about this fact, my family and I left Forst, but for some years it was our paradise, after travelling so much and having no real place to stay in peace and relax.

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***UNCUT CLASSIC***
CLUSTER
SOWIESOSO
SKY, 1976
The ultimate kosmische album, Cluster’s fourth album bottles the essence of their rural home with its relaxing, quasi-ambient textures

It wasn’t our plan to capture the mood of Forst and the countryside – no intention, just reflection. But the influence came from the beauty of the place at Forst, of course, and the happiness to have been able to settle down after so many years of travelling. On a personal level, I had got together with my wife, and our first child was born in a homebirth in front of an open fireplace there. The sessions for Sowiesoso just happened when Moebi and I felt relaxed enough after a hard day’s work to go down to Harmonia’s studio. Were we collaborating fully again? I think so. And working in Harmonia with Michael Rother had definitely changed Cluster’s music – for sure, it had influenced us to take Cluster in a more harmonic direction. How were these tracks developed? Mostly in the Cluster way and direction – as I said before, out of the belly, that is the Cluster way.

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CLUSTER & ENO
CLUSTER & ENO
SKY, 1977
The duo’s first collaboration with Brian Eno, also featuring appearances from Can’s Holger Czukay and synthesist Asmus Tietchens

What drew us and Eno together? A friendship that had started a long time before we finally worked together. We had met Eno two years earlier at a concert in Hamburg, and had come to like him because of his friendly nature and his companionship, and appreciated him because of his sensitive jamming with us at one of our concerts, and we invited him to join us in Forst for a joint production. Because we had many daily tasks in our quasi-commune in Forst – for example, gathering firewood from the forest for the winter, taking care of our recently born child, tending the garden – Eno, who would have rather spent all day in the studio, agreed to help with some work, but apart from occasionally carrying around our baby Rosa, he didn’t really do much. But he found how we mastered our life in Forst appealing, how we made music together. We recorded with him as Harmonia, which was released decades later [as 1997’s Tracks & Traces]. [We then made] music as Cluster with him at Conny Plank’s about a year after his visit to Forst. We shared curiosity, an eagerness to experiment, love for nature and love for people. The song “By This River” [released on Eno’s Before And After Science, 1977] became one of Brian’s most famous songs – I wrote the basic music, Brian the melody and words.

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CLUSTER
CURIOSUM
SKY, 1981
The final album before Cluster’s decade-long break, a bizarre but compelling experiment in cartoonish, absurd synths and electronics

We recorded this on a four-track machine in a monastery in the north of Austria. It was, though it might now have changed, an old building in the midst of a big forest. The owner gave it to artists to stay and work there as long as needed – what a splendid gift! A normal studio in a city is something, but doing ‘it’ in places like this monastery, for example, makes it special. It was inspiring to be in this religious environment, of course, we never denied to be religious. I don’t remember us having any new gear for this. We always were Cluster as character and trademark, two guys together in a deep friendship on their own way in life. I have lived in Austria for many years now; my Austrian-born wife got me there, but I believe [my destiny to live there] was already fixed hundreds of years ago by my ancestors. One of them, preacher and cantor Johann Christian Roedelius, was a contemporary of the godfather of classical music, Johann Sebastian Bach, and the two of them played the same organ in St Thomas Church in Leipzig.

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CLUSTER
ONE HOUR
PRUDENCE/MÚSICA SECRETA, 1994
The second album produced from Cluster’s reunion, an ambitious hour-long soundscape

Why did we decide to get back together for [1991’s] Apropos Cluster and this album? Cluster is Cluster is Cluster is Cluster is Cluster ad infinitum. The story is that this album came from hours of improvisation, but it didn’t come from ‘hours’, it came from one hour. We used two keyboards, tone-generators, self-made little electric toys, a knee-viola, a cello and a guitar. What were we listening to at the time? I remember Hapshash And The Coloured Coat, Captain Beefheart and Jimi Hendrix. But certainly Cluster is always unmistakeable, at least to my ears. Did Moebi and I disagree much over the years? As we began in 1969 to stay and work with each other, there was of course an expiration date for something that was so unique and extra at the time as Cluster or Kluster. The creative air was running out after more than 40 years. It was a normal process of getting tired doing always the same thing.

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CLUSTER
QUA
NEPENTHE/KLANGBAD, 2009
The final album by the duo, 17 assorted miniatures and epics recorded in Maumee, Ohio

This is Cluster’s swansong, the most relevant contemporary electronic music of all time ever. This was recorded in Ohio in Tim Story’s studio, it was another station in the Cluster journey, and in Tim we had another silent member of the group once again. He is the grandmaster of sound design – a Grammy nominee once for his music for The Legend Of Sleepy Hollow narrated by Glenn Close. How had the spark and musical connection between Moebi and me changed? We were flexible all the time, we did what we did with no other purpose than ‘we want to do what we want to do what we want to do’ out of the moment, and fortunately we were able to. As long as one is able to keep his interests fresh, to stay authentic from the beginning, to show up with understanding and love, why shouldn’t he be loved and appreciated by his audience forever?

Bob Dylan’s Rough And Rowdy Ways Tour continues! Show 10: Krefeld

Michael Bonner
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Bob Dylan’s Rough And Rowdy Ways Tour continues! Show 10: Krefeld
Bob Dylan's Rough And Rowdy Ways Tour continues to make its way through Europe. ORDER NOW: Bob Dylan is on the cover of the latest issue of Uncut Last night [October 9], Dylan and his band performed at the Yayla Arena, Krefeld, Germany. Previously, the tour has stopped at: Oslo Spektr...

Bob Dylan‘s Rough And Rowdy Ways Tour continues to make its way through Europe.

Last night [October 9], Dylan and his band performed at the Yayla Arena, Krefeld, Germany.

Previously, the tour has stopped at:

Oslo Spektrum, Norway on September 25

Avicii Arena, Stockholm, Sweden on September 27

Scandinavium, Gothenburg, Sweden on September 29

Royal Arena, Copenhagen, Denmark on September 30

Flens-Arena, Flensburg, Germany on October 2

GETEC Arena, Magdeburg, Germany on October 3

Verti Music Hall, Berlin, Germany on October 5

Verti Music Hall, Berlin, Germany on October 6

Verti Music Hall, Berlin, Germany on October 7

According to Boblinks, the setlist for Dylan and his band in Krefeld was:

Watching The River Flow (Bob on piano)
Most Likely You Go Your Way (and I’ll Go Mine) (Bob on piano)
I Contain Multitudes (Bob on piano)
False Prophet (Bob on piano)
When I Paint My Masterpiece (Bob on piano with full backing band)
Black Rider (Bob on piano)
My Own Version of You (Bob on piano)
I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight (Bob on piano with harp)
Crossing The Rubicon (Bob on piano)
To Be Alone With You (Bob on piano)
Key West (Philosopher Pirate) (Bob on piano)
Gotta Serve Somebody (Bob on piano)
I’ve Made Up My Mind To Give Myself To You (Bob on piano)
That Old Black Magic (Bob on piano)
Mother of Muses (Bob on piano)
Goodbye Jimmy Reed (Bob on piano)
Band introductions (Bob on piano)
Every Grain of Sand (Bob on piano with harp)

In this long Twitter thread, @Billy_Ontheroad goes deep on an “incredible concert” in Krefeld:

“The most impressive proof of his presence in Krefeld is his phenomenally changeable voice: Two weeks ago in Oslo, Bob Dylan decided song by song for his quarry voice or for his sweet voice, so in Krefeld he mixes the styles within the songs.”

Dylan’s next show is on Tuesday, October 11 at the Grand Rex, Paris, France. He reaches the UK on October 19, for a 12-date tour that includes four nights at the London Palladium. This will be Bob’s first UK tour for five years.

Introducing the Deluxe Ultimate Music Guide to Roxy Music

John Robinson
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Introducing the Deluxe Ultimate Music Guide to Roxy Music
BUY THE ROXY MUSIC DELUXE ULTIMATE MUSIC GUIDE HERE 50 years of Roxy Music! As important a landmark as that is, and as much as we’ve wanted to honour it in this latest deluxe Ultimate Music Guide, it’s one that Bryan Ferry – the arch-conceptualist, chief composer and lead vocalist of Rox...

BUY THE ROXY MUSIC DELUXE ULTIMATE MUSIC GUIDE HERE

50 years of Roxy Music!

As important a landmark as that is, and as much as we’ve wanted to honour it in this latest deluxe Ultimate Music Guide, it’s one that Bryan Ferry – the arch-conceptualist, chief composer and lead vocalist of Roxy Music – is ultimately pretty modest about.

“We felt that 50 years was worth celebrating,” he tells us in the course of an exclusive new Roxy Music interview. The band spoke to us from the United States where they’re on an arena tour which arrives in the UK this week. “Seeing us together on stage is something our fans have wanted for a long time…”

Looking back over the band’s amazing career, it’s no wonder why that might be. For the BBC’s Valerie Singleton in 1979, they were the group who “brought stylishly-dressed men and scantily-clad ladies back into fashion”. Which was definitely one part of it. If you wanted to go a bit further, you could say that with Roxy, Bryan Ferry devised a project in which he would not only be writer and director of a widescreen production, he would also be its surprisingly self-effacing matinee idol, too.

Fronting the hugely successful “glam” incarnation of the band, Ferry approached making music as dizzying montage, in which relatable tales of love and dancing were transformed into the argot of some unimaginably chic demi-monde.

It was witty, sexy (at times controversially so), and it brought eyeshadow and challenging avant-garde music into the mainstream. You thought David Bowie did that? As Bryan Ferry was at pains to point out, Bowie was very good, but Roxy were using viola and synthesizer. Bowie, meanwhile, still used guitars.

Nor was this vision diminished on the other side of Roxy’s three-year hiatus. When the band peaked again, with Avalon, it was with a chilly Arthurian fantasia imagined from business class. Even while he braced vituperation from those who didn’t get it, Ferry retained composure as he has since, going on to make more utterly unpredictable music.

In this 148-page deluxe edition, you’ll find in-depth reviews of all the music made by the band (and solo work by its members), and also the pick of classic interviews from the archives of NME, Melody Maker and Uncut. Eno solo? The greatest Roxy singles? They’re in there too…

“We’ve got a lot of confidence in what we’re doing,” he told Richard Williams when his band had only a demo tape to their name in 1971, “and we’re determined to make it in as civilised a way as possible.

“We’re not interested in scuffling,” he continued. “If someone will invest some time and money in us, we’ll be very good indeed.”

You’ve got to love a happy ending. Enjoy the magazine.

Buy a copy of the magazine here. Missed one in the series? Bundles are available at the same location…

Roxy Music – Deluxe Ultimate Music Guide

Uncut
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Roxy Music – Deluxe Ultimate Music Guide
As the band reform for a 50th-anniversary celebration, the deluxe – well, what else? – Ultimate Music Guide to Roxy Music. The full story, from “inspired amateurism” to smooth sophistication – and the occasional stylish reformation. Also, an exclusive new interview with the band on the ro...

As the band reform for a 50th-anniversary celebration, the deluxe – well, what else? – Ultimate Music Guide to Roxy Music. The full story, from “inspired amateurism” to smooth sophistication – and the occasional stylish reformation. Also, an exclusive new interview with the band on the road and Bryan Ferry’s own guide to their classic studio albums. “Well I’m here looking through an old picture frame / Just waiting for the perfect view…”

Buy a copy of the magazine here. Missed one in the series? Bundles are available at the same location…

Herbie Hancock: “I like to be ahead of the curve, I’m trying to make a curve!”

Graeme Thomson
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Herbie Hancock: “I like to be ahead of the curve, I’m trying to make a curve!”
In a rare audience with the rockit man, HERBIE HANCOCK tells Graeme Thomson about his remarkable career, alongside giants including Miles Davis and Joni Mitchell, and as a formidable solo artist in his own right, in the latest issue of Uncut magazine – in UK shops from Thursday, Sept 15 and avai...

In a rare audience with the rockit man, HERBIE HANCOCK tells Graeme Thomson about his remarkable career, alongside giants including Miles Davis and Joni Mitchell, and as a formidable solo artist in his own right, in the latest issue of Uncut magazine – in UK shops from Thursday, Sept 15 and available to buy from our online store. But what keeps this tireless innovator going into his ninth decade? “I like to be ahead of the curve,” he says. “I’m trying to make a curve!”

Herbie Hancock is staring intently at the plug socket on the wall. “Ever since I was a kid, I would look at something like this and I would start playing with it because I wanted to know what it did,” he says. “Then I’d start thinking, ‘I wonder what would happen if I put this with that? Would that work? Of course, I’d get electrocuted…” He laughs. “It’s because I’m curious. That’s part of my basic nature. I’ve been so ever since I can remember.”

Which is as useful an explanation as any for Hancock’s mercurial musical career. Today, the legendary pianist is in a hotel room in Edinburgh. Not long arrived on a flight from Denmark, he has a much-needed rest day before performing again with his superlative three-piece band at the city’s prestigious International Festival the following night. Looking many years younger than his allotted 82, Hancock is a courtly presence: alert, quick to laugh and happy to roam across one of the most storied and eclectic careers in music, which has taken him from bebop and blues to Afrofuturism, funk, fusion, electronic experimentation, ambient, pop and hip-hop.

Chicago born, classically trained, Hancock was discovered in 1960, aged 20, by trumpeter Donald Byrd. He made his recording debut for Blue Note at 22 with Takin’ Off!, a hard bop gem which opened with “Watermelon Man”, the first of many standards Hancock has composed. He became a member of Miles Davis’ legendary Second Great Quintet the following year and between 1963 and 1971 played on a series of Davis’ groundbreaking records, from Seven Steps to Heaven to On The Corner. During the same period, he continued to record pioneering albums for Blue Note, among them Empyrean Isles, Maiden Voyage and Speak Like A Child.

In the early ’70s, having left Miles’ band, Hancock became fascinated by electronic music. The adventurous, avant-garde Afrocentrism of his Mwandishi sextet led to the more directly funky approach of his Headhunters band. Their 1973 debut, Head Hunters, heavily influenced by Sly Stone and James Brown, became a commercial crossover hit and remains a pinnacle of jazz-funk fusion. Several more vital records in a similar style followed. His current live show draws heavily from this period, but Hancock has never been content to rest on old glories. “I do play some of my old songs, but they have evolved,” he says. “I don’t like to keep playing the same thing year after year.” He became a pop star in the ’80s with his funk-rap crossover “Rockit” and remains a tireless innovator into his ninth decade.

His next album, the first since The Imagine Project in 2010, is slated to feature guests such as Kamasi Washington, Snoop Dogg and Robert Glasper. He assures Uncut that the record is taking shape, albeit slowly. You get the sense that Hancock’s curious nature can be both a blessing and a curse. “I’m still working on my knowledge about newer technologies for music,” he says. “I watch a lot of YouTube videos. The music scene is constantly evolving and changing and new things are coming up, and I like to be ahead of the curve. Not that I’m trying to copy a curve,” he says, his hand slicing through the air. “I’m trying to make a curve!”

PICK UP THE NEW ISSUE OF UNCUT TO READ THE FULL STORY

Low cancel all 2022 tour dates as Mimi Parker continues cancer treatment

Ali Shutler
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Low cancel all 2022 tour dates as Mimi Parker continues cancer treatment
Low have cancelled the remainder of their 2022 tour dates as the band’s Mimi Parker continues treatment for ovarian cancer. ORDER NOW: Bob Dylan is on the cover of the latest issue of Uncut READ MORE: An audience with Low: “When things are right at the edge of breaking apart, it can be...

Low have cancelled the remainder of their 2022 tour dates as the band’s Mimi Parker continues treatment for ovarian cancer.

Parker, who formed the band with her husband Alan Sparhawk in 1993, was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in late 2020. She first spoke about her health condition during an appearance on the SHEROES Radio podcast this January.

In August, the band cancelled a string of shows due to “recent developments and changes” in Parker’s treatment. “Our hope is that she will respond to new treatments and be able to play the shows we have scheduled for the fall,” Low said at the time but last week, confirmed that all their 2022 tour dates would now be cancelled.

“We were hoping she would be healthy enough to do the UK/Europe tour we had planned for November, but it is clear that we should stay home and continue with treatment and care as she is still struggling with ovarian cancer,” the band’s Alan Sparhawk wrote.

He continued: “There have been difficult days but your love has sustained us and will continue to lift us through this time. Our hearts go out immediately to others in similar situations but who don’t have as many people sending such love and healing wishes. Find someone who is alone who needs a chat and give them your time and love. With tears, we say thank you and hope to see you soon.”

 

Low released their 13th studio album, Hey What last September. The band have a North American headline tour scheduled for March 2023.

Jeff Bridges and Helen Mirren will lend their voices to Bob Dylan’s new audiobook

Emma Wilkes
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Jeff Bridges and Helen Mirren will lend their voices to Bob Dylan’s new audiobook
Jeff Bridges and Helen Mirren have been listed as just two of the names who will be reading chapters on the audiobook edition of Bob Dylan's forthcoming essay collection. ORDER NOW: Bob Dylan is on the cover of the latest issue of Uncut READ MORE: A look back at Bob Dylan’s landmark debu...

Jeff Bridges and Helen Mirren have been listed as just two of the names who will be reading chapters on the audiobook edition of Bob Dylan’s forthcoming essay collection.

The book, The Philosophy of Modern Song, contains over 60 essays written by Dylan about songs by artists such as Stephen Foster, Elvis Costello, Hank Williams and Nina Simone. It is set for release on November 1.

Sissy Spacek, Oscar Isaac and Steve Buscemi will also be reading essays written by Dylan. The full list of guests was published by Variety, alongside which essays they will each lend their voice to.

Dylan himself will also be reading parts of the audiobook, but he will not be taking on any full chapters. Instead, he will read short introductions or interstitial pieces that appear between the essays, which the book’s publisher Simon and Schuster described as “a series of dream-like riffs that, taken together, resemble an epic poem and add to the work’s transcendence.”

The Philosophy of the Modern Song has been over a decade in the making, with Dylan first commencing work on it back in 2010. It is his second book, following his 2004 memoir Chronicles Volume One.

“The publication of Bob Dylan’s kaleidoscopically brilliant work will be an international celebration of songs by one of the greatest artists of our time,” said Jonathan Karp, president and CEO of Simon & Schuster, upon the book’s initial announcement back in March.

“The Philosophy of Modern Song could only have been written by Bob Dylan. His voice is unique, and his work conveys his deep appreciation and understanding of songs, the people who bring those songs to life, and what songs mean to all of us.”

Dylan’s most recent album, Rough and Rowdy Ways, was released in 2020.

The icon will also be returning to the UK this month for a run of UK tour dates.

The Who surprise fans with rare song during Long Island gig

Elizabeth Aubrey
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The Who surprise fans with rare song during Long Island gig
The Who have surprised fans in Long Island with a song that's only been played a handful of times by the band in the last 40 years. ORDER NOW: Bob Dylan is on the cover of the latest issue of Uncut During the gig, which took place on October 7, Roger Daltrey and co played "Young Man's Blues"...

The Who have surprised fans in Long Island with a song that’s only been played a handful of times by the band in the last 40 years.

During the gig, which took place on October 7, Roger Daltrey and co played “Young Man’s Blues” as an extra encore.

The band haven’t played the song since a one-off in 2014, and it’s only been played six times in the last 40 years of the band’s touring history (via Rolling Stone).

The song, which was written by jazz pianist Mose Allison in 1957, added a R&B version of the song into their live set in 1964. It later appeared on the band’s Live At Leeds.
Check out footage of the moment here:

Earlier this year, The Who‘s North American tour took them to Cincinnati, Ohio for their first performance in the city for nearly 45 years after an infamous tragedy.

The midwest US city was the centre of a tragedy during the band’s tour in December of 1979. A crowd crush that occurred while fans were entering the Riverfront Coliseum left 11 dead and dozens more injured.

A documentary on the tragedy The Night That Changed Rock aired in 2019 and featured interviews with Daltrey and Townshend.

The band waived their fee for the performance, donating all ticket proceeds to local charities. The families of nine of the 11 victims were also in attendance, as they were given VIP front row tickets to the show.

Over the summer, it was revealed that Roger Daltrey had two generations of Townshends in his solo band for his rescheduled UK tour dates.

The Who frontman booked both Simon Townshend, the brother of The Who guitarist/singer Pete Townshend, and Simon’s son, Ben, to support him on his tour.

Guitarist and singer Simon has played shows with The Who in the past, while Ben has played on several of Simon’s records as well as albums by The Cornerstones.

Daltrey embarked on a 12-date UK tour where he played The Who classics and solo songs. He also hosted some fan Q&As.

Bob Dylan’s Rough And Rowdy Ways Tour continues! Show 9: Berlin, Night 3

Michael Bonner
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Bob Dylan’s Rough And Rowdy Ways Tour continues! Show 9: Berlin, Night 3
Bob Dylan's Rough And Rowdy Ways Tour continues to make its way through Europe. ORDER NOW: Bob Dylan is on the cover of the latest issue of Uncut Last night [October 7], Dylan and his band performed the third of three shows at Berlin's Verti Music Hall, Germany. Previously, the tour has ...

Bob Dylan‘s Rough And Rowdy Ways Tour continues to make its way through Europe.

Last night [October 7], Dylan and his band performed the third of three shows at Berlin’s Verti Music Hall, Germany.

Previously, the tour has stopped at:

Oslo Spektrum, Norway on September 25

Avicii Arena, Stockholm, Sweden on September 27

Scandinavium, Gothenburg, Sweden on September 29

Royal Arena, Copenhagen, Denmark on September 30

Flens-Arena, Flensburg, Germany on October 2

GETEC Arena, Magdeburg, Germany on October 3

Verti Music Hall, Berlin, Germany on October 5

Verti Music Hall, Berlin, Germany on October 6

According to Boblinks, the setlist for Dylan and his band in Berlin was:

Watching The River Flow (Bob on piano)
Most Likely You Go Your Way (and I’ll Go Mine) (Bob on piano)
I Contain Multitudes (Bob on piano)
False Prophet (Bob on piano)
When I Paint My Masterpiece (Bob on piano with full backing band)
Black Rider (Bob on piano)
My Own Version of You (Bob on piano)
I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight (Bob on piano)
Crossing The Rubicon (Bob on piano)
To Be Alone With You (Bob on piano)
Key West (Philosopher Pirate) (Bob on piano)
Gotta Serve Somebody (Bob on piano)
I’ve Made Up My Mind To Give Myself To You (Bob on piano)
That Old Black Magic (Bob on piano)
Mother of Muses (Bob on piano)
Goodbye Jimmy Reed (Bob on piano)
Band introductions (Bob on piano)
Every Grain of Sand (Bob on piano)

According to depp99, a poster on Expecting Rain, “Had the feeling that Bob and the band were 100% feeling it tonight, though there was more interaction with the audience yesterday. My favorite performance from Berlin #3 was ‘Crossing The Rubicon’. Spectacular performance. Bob was totally on point. Loved his diction. Also love the snarling bass Tony plays during the song. But actually the whole show was on a very high level.
“No ‘Thank you, art lovers’ comment tonight, but that hilarious ‘We just had to do that one. It was a request!’ after ‘That Old Black Magic’. Unlike the last two shows, Bob also made some comments during the band introductions. I didn’t understand all of it, but Donnie Herron was introduced as playing both the steel guitar and the violin – ‘Two very similar instruments!’. Bob also mentioned Wilson Pickett and his song ‘In The Midnight Hour’ during Doug Lancio’s introduction. Does anyone know what that was about? I don’t think there were special comments for Tony and Charley.”

Said Clothes Line Sage, ‘I Contain Multitudes’ is not one of my favourites from RARW, but tonight’s performance really resonated with me and I was surprised to find myself getting a little bit teary-eyed during it. My Own Version of You, I’ve Made Up My Mind, Mother of Muses, and Every Grain of Sand were all stellar tonight. Maybe it was me, but there seemed to be quite a wistful tone to Bob’s delivery at times, particularly on lines like ‘how much longer can it last, how long can this go on?’ and ‘A lot of people gone – a lot of people goooone – people I knew’.”

Dylan’s next show is on Sunday, October 9 at the Yayla Arena, Krefeld, Germany. He reaches the UK on October 19, for a 12-date tour that includes four nights at the London Palladium. This will be Bob’s first UK tour for five years.

Buzzcocks – Sonics In The Soul

Dave Simpson
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Buzzcocks – Sonics In The Soul
Can there really be a Buzzcocks without Pete Shelley? The singer-songwriter, who died in 2018, fronted the band for 41 years, writing or co-writing hundreds of songs including such copper-bottomed classics as “What Do I Get?” and “Ever Fallen In Love (With Someone You Shouldn’tve)”. His de...

Can there really be a Buzzcocks without Pete Shelley? The singer-songwriter, who died in 2018, fronted the band for 41 years, writing or co-writing hundreds of songs including such copper-bottomed classics as “What Do I Get?” and “Ever Fallen In Love (With Someone You Shouldn’tve)”. His death leaves a massive hole. And yet, lest we forget, Shelley himself stepped into a similar space when original singer Howard Devoto left in 1977, leaving the lead guitarist to transition to singer-guitarist, main songwriter and frontman.

The rest is history, and while the lineup has survived numerous changes to the rhythm section over the years, guitarist (originally bassist) and vocalist Steve Diggle – who now steps up to solely front the band – has hardly been a slouch. Along with numerous co-writes with Shelley, he wrote and sang the likes of the hurtling “Harmony In My Head”, “Autonomy” and “Love Is Lies”, the acoustic ballad that threw such an effective, bittersweet curveball into the middle of 1978’s Love Bites. Having now been a Buzzcock for longer than anyone including Shelley and having taken on more vocal and songwriting duties as the years progressed, Diggle has earned his late colleague’s blessing to take over the ship.

Now 67, the Mancunian instinctively understands what Buzzcocks are about. Recorded during the pandemic, their first album since 2014’s underwhelming The Way is packed with trademark hurtling guitar runs, piercing lead guitar lines and machine gun drum rolls, and most songs reliably clock in at under three minutes. What’s missing, of course, is Shelley’s unique vocal – fey, arch, wry, knowing, romantic, wounded and, let’s be honest, irreplaceable. Diggle’s is a more straightforward rasp, gutsy and slightly nasal, suited to “Harmony In My Head” but not, say, “You Say You Don’t Love Me”. Still, here he’s written songs which sit comfortably within his range, and if there are moments when you find yourself wistfully imagining Shelley singing them, that’s testament to their quality. But equally, writing on his own in lockdown, Diggle has brought an unexpectedly emotional, often beautifully elegiac quality that makes Sonics In The Soul relevant and relatable.

These 11 songs capture a man at a time in his life struggling to make sense of a rapidly changing, sometimes frightening new world. The opening title track – a “What Do I Get?”-style zinger – initially appears to be a celebration of delirium, but is actually an admission of bewilderment: “All my dreams have hit the ground, with my senses out of control”. Another cracker, “Manchester Rain”, was inspired when Diggle met a young, hopeful band in a Mancunian doorway, and flashed back to his young self, with everything ahead of him. The lovely lead guitar line has a hint of 1978’s sublime “ESP”, but the guitarist has surely earned the right to recycle himself by now.

“You Changed Everything Now” is a classic Buzzcocks anthem about how people change or become estranged: “The world is looking out of place and the signs are written on your face and it’s me you want to replace”. With a bridge to die for, it’s a heartbreakingly glorious tune that could have slotted into the hallowed Singles Going Steady. Sonics In The Soul doesn’t always hit such heights, but there’s much to recommend. “Bad Dreams” is a jagged, “Nothing Left”-style anthem about recovery. “Nothingless World” has shades of the early Jam and IRS-era REM. “Just Gotta Let it Go”, a three-minute blast about frustration, could be Buzzcocks circa 1977, but “Everything Is Wrong” is another mellifluous gem, with contemporary themes of post-truth and fake news.

Lockdowns have audibly influenced the rather rudimentary “Don’t Mess With My Brain” and, more successfully, the effects-laden “Experimental Farm”, but the album increasingly gives way to philosophical and dystopian moods. There’s a hint of Joy Division darkness to “Can You Hear Tomorrow”, lyrically a sort of “Won’t Get Fooled Again” sigh at current politics (“Old centre parting, coming away at the seams”). Orwellian references abound in the deceptively cheerily chugging “Venus Eyes”, as Diggle searches for hope in the current “thought control reality”. Sonics In The Soul doesn’t always hit the spot and it’s a shame there’s no room for last year’s heartfelt tribute “Hope Heaven Loves You” (on the Senses Out Of Control EP). But there’s easily enough here to steer the trusty old craft into new, uncharted waters, just as Shelley wanted.

The Cure – Wish (Reissue, 1992)

Piers Martin
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The Cure – Wish (Reissue, 1992)
The trouble with a masterpiece like Disintegration is that at some point you have to follow it up. Released on Robert Smith’s 33rd birthday – April 21, 1992 – Wish turned out to be the perfect mix of light and shade. Any gloomier and The Cure would have been accused of milking the misery when ...

The trouble with a masterpiece like Disintegration is that at some point you have to follow it up. Released on Robert Smith’s 33rd birthday – April 21, 1992 – Wish turned out to be the perfect mix of light and shade. Any gloomier and The Cure would have been accused of milking the misery when there wasn’t much around – Disintegration had been wildly successful, establishing them as a stadium act around the world, despite Smith’s best intentions – and they’d already let their hair down with 1990’s irreverent (and prescient) remix collection Mixed Up. Indeed, it was while recording Mixed Up’s lead single “Never Enough”, slathered in Porl Thompson’s guitar, that Smith remembered how much fun playing together as a band could be, especially now Lol Tolhurst was out of the picture.

In this blithe spirit, and armed with 18 months’ worth of ideas, the band headed to studios in Cornwall and the Cotswolds where they demoed around 40 songs, before settling in at Richard Branson’s Manor Studio in Oxfordshire in September 1991 to record the material that would make up Wish and its excellent B-sides. Smith had intended to make two albums, a poppier one called Higher and a slower, atmospheric and purely instrumental one titled Music For Dreams. At the Manor, this coalesced into the dozen tracks that form Wish, an album that stylistically nods more to Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me than  Disintegration in its diversity, yet perhaps inevitably lacks the exotic allure or sense of danger of the 1987 LP.

By 1992 The Cure had become part of the establishment, to Smith’s horror and amusement, winning Brits in ’91 for best British group and best video, and Wish was received accordingly, reaching No1 in the UK and 2 in the US to become their bestselling album. To make matters worse, the giddy rush of “Friday I’m In Love” became a colossal hit just as their biggest world tour began – but when the Wish campaign ended, things were never really the same again for The Cure. The momentum slowed, perhaps they’d peaked, and Smith, while not running out of ideas, struggled to connect on 1996’s Wild Mood Swings while Britpop ran riot.

Wish, their ninth album, is generally regarded as the final instalment of their imperial phase, an untouchable run that starts with 1980’s Seventeen Seconds and sees Smith reinventing The Cure in wonderful ways with each new release as their fanbase swells. What makes this 30th-anniversary edition so interesting is that it includes 24 unreleased demos, all instrumentals – as well as the four mixed songs previously released on Lost Wishes, a rare, fans-only 1993 cassette – which give some idea of the direction the band could have taken at the time, or finished off for a follow-up in ’93 or ’94, had the cards been stacked differently. Significantly, these are, we assume, the last recordings from that golden ’80s era by the classic Cure lineup of Smith, Thompson, bassist Simon Gallup, drummer Boris Williams and keyboardist Perry Bamonte, and even though these are demos, it’s still a thrill to hear them playing these songs together.

Referring to this reissue earlier in the year, Smith mentioned the number of Gallup demos which remained instrumentals “purely because I couldn’t think of any words for them. That’s really sad, as some of them were really great.” Given the prominence of Gallup’s bass, it seems the sugary swirl of “Now Is The Time” and “Miss Van Gogh” are his, while “Abetabw”, a kind of The Top-style mystic groove, is crying out for Smith’s howl. “Frogfish” is goofy, throwaway funk with sax and synth-flute, “Heart Attack” could be another “Never Enough”, invigorated by Thompson’s playing. The three “T” tracks – “T6”, “T7”, “T8” – hint at a more succinct version of Wish studded with Smith’s signature spiralling power-pop.

On the other hand, three songs from Lost Wishes – “Uyea Sound”, “Cloudberry” and “Off To Sleep…” – lean towards Disintegration’s enveloping sound palette in their meandering melancholy and sense of blissful yearning, while the fourth from that tape, “The Three Sisters”, barrels down “Fascination Street”, all white-knuckle guitars and prowling bass. Again, you wish Smith had found time to write words for them. There are also early versions of “Halo”, “A Foolish Arrangement”, “Scared As You” and “The Big Hand”, songs used as B-sides which could easily hold their own on Wish; has there been a better B-sides band than The Cure?

At some point, midway through the third disc, you hit the padding: the “Partscheckruf Mix” of “From The Edge Of The Deep Green Sea” doesn’t shed much new light on the Wish centrepiece, and an instrumental called “A Wendy Band” is a ponderous affair. Cure fans will already own the various mixes of “High”, “Open”, “A Letter To Elise” and “Friday I’m In Love”, but these are sympathetic versions and chime with Smith’s fascination at the time with the remix as a form of art. A visceral, nine-minute grind through “End”, live from Paris in 1992, closes proceedings and reminds you that when they go back to basics, there’s still nothing that sounds quite like The Cure.

Bob Dylan’s Rough And Rowdy Ways Tour continues! Show 8: Berlin, Night 2

Michael Bonner
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Bob Dylan’s Rough And Rowdy Ways Tour continues! Show 8: Berlin, Night 2
Bob Dylan's Rough And Rowdy Ways Tour continues to make its way through Europe. ORDER NOW: Bob Dylan is on the cover of the latest issue of Uncut Last night [October 5], Dylan and his band performed the second of three shows at Berlin's Verti Music Hall, Germany. Previously, the tour has ...

Bob Dylan‘s Rough And Rowdy Ways Tour continues to make its way through Europe.

Last night [October 5], Dylan and his band performed the second of three shows at Berlin’s Verti Music Hall, Germany.

Previously, the tour has stopped at:

Oslo Spektrum, Norway on September 25

Avicii Arena, Stockholm, Sweden on September 27

Scandinavium, Gothenburg, Sweden on September 29

Royal Arena, Copenhagen, Denmark on September 30

Flens-Arena, Flensburg, Germany on October 2

GETEC Arena, Magdeburg, Germany on October 3

Verti Music Hall, Berlin, Germany on October 5

According to Boblinks, the setlist for Dylan and his band in Berlin was:

Watching The River Flow (Bob on piano)
Most Likely You Go Your Way (and I’ll Go Mine) (Bob on piano)
I Contain Multitudes (Bob on piano)
False Prophet (Bob on piano)
When I Paint My Masterpiece (Bob on piano with full backing band)
Black Rider (Bob on piano)
My Own Version of You (Bob on piano)
I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight (Bob on piano)
Crossing The Rubicon (Bob on piano)
To Be Alone With You (Bob on piano)
Key West (Philosopher Pirate) (Bob on piano)
Gotta Serve Somebody (Bob on piano)
I’ve Made Up My Mind To Give Myself To You (Bob on piano)
That Old Black Magic (Bob on piano)
Mother of Muses (Bob on piano)
Goodbye Jimmy Reed (Bob on piano)
Band introductions (Bob on piano)
Every Grain of Sand (Bob on piano and harp)

According to depp99, a poster on Expecting Rain, “Incident during Black Rider. Bob stopped the song during the first line. ‘If you take photos, we ain’t gonna sing.’ Started and stopped song again. ‘OK, let’s wait a while… Come on, throw that guy out!’ Funny thing is the show got even better from then on.”

“Did anyone actually see a guy filming the show?” asked Sandy. “I don’t think that even the band (at least some of them) knew who Bob was referring to. When he stopped singing the second time, he looked at a guy in the upper level who seemed to be holding only opera glasses.”

Added SaveTheBob, “I didn’t see anyone filming…i also looked at the security, but nothing happened and nobody was forced to exit. Tonight Bob was really on fire…so better than yesterday, I’m glad to see him in such a great shape. Key West was incredible, My Own Version perfect without problems like yesterday and also Black Magic he did a marvellous and powerful final. The harmonica was lovely and the piano great for all the night. It seems to me like a jazz session, with Bob make many changes and improvisation and The Band did their best to follow him.”

Dylan’s next show is on Friday, October 7 for the final show at Berlin’s Verti Music Hall. He reaches the UK on October 19, for a 12-date tour that includes four nights at the London Palladium. This will be Bob’s first UK tour for five years.

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